Chris McCormack Picks His Camden Rocks Highlights

Camden Rocks plants its flag in NW1 this Saturday (31 May) — check out our preview — and we've asked the festival's organiser to sketch out a few bands he thinks you'd be quite foolish to miss. His top five are below, with their venue and stage times, which have been helpfully released in full ahead of the day's festivities.

And in case you're unaware of Chris McCormack's rock pedigree, we might remind you he was the guitarist with punk rock heavyweights 3 Colours Red, so just the type of gentleman you pay attention to when he decrees a band is worth a squint.

Dead Sea Skulls

The Beatrice, 10pm
Chris McCormack: "Dead Sea Skulls are a garage-punk three piece with proper bite. Their latest track, I Wanna Buy A Rolex, cuts you in half straight from the off, with utterly razor sharp riffs that’ll leave your ears in tatters. Bring earplugs."

Colt 45

The Enterprise, 10pm
CM: "Colt 45 deliver their gritty pop-punk with cocksure sentiment. This lot are creeping into the rock scene at pretty high speed and they’ve roped in Romesh Dodangoda to produce their debut album, who’s worked on so many great records over the years."

Young Aviators

Hawley Arms, 3pm
CM: "These Glasgow boys make the catchiest indie rock you’ll ever hear. They’ve toured with the likes of Reef, Nine Black Alps and The Subways, so if dancefloor-filling, foot-stomping indie’s your thing, Young Aviators have you covered."

Broken Hands

The Beatrice, 8pm
CM: "Canterbury’s Broken Hands channel old-school fuzzy, blues riffs into a rhythmic machine that sounds and feels effortlessly cool. Like a young British version of The Black Angels, this band are starting to make serious waves, and are definitely one to keep an eye out for."

Turbogeist

Hawley Arms, 7pm
CM: "Turbogeist wave the flag high and clear for British rock music. Thrashing their way into the rock scene, the band spent the beginning of the year raging across the UK on tour with rising punk upstarts Radkey. Currently gigging their way all over the country, we can’t wait till they bring their whisky chugging debauchery to Camden this month!"